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HMUN 2010 Closing Ceremonies

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Villanueva) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 04:36:00 +0000

My laptop crashed after returning from the Harvard MUN Conference, so I haven't been able to post any material from liveblogging the conference. I was able to back up some of it, fortunately, and now I have to chance to share a couple videos from closing ceremonies.

Director-General Jeff Phaneuf spoke on how Model UN will shape the leaders of tomorrow:

Secretary-General Dan Robinson recited a few verses from the poem, "Locksley Hall," by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. I asked Dan about it after closing ceremonies and he pointed out that President Truman carried around an excerpt of this poem in his wallet. This was a cool note on which to end the conference.

Excerpted below, and the complete poem can be found here.

"For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,

Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be;

Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,

Pilots of the purple twilight dropping down with costly bales;

Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rain'd a ghastly dew

From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue;

Far along the world-wide whisper of the south-wind rushing warm,

With the standards of the peoples plunging thro' the thunder-storm;

Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer, and the battle-flags were furl'd

In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world."

Dan then closed his speech with an interesting point: Model UN is not about realism or how to emulate the UN; it is about idealism, and how the nations of the world should work together towards international peace.

More liveblogging material from HMUN (and the Yale MUN Conference) to come, stay tuned.

Global Model UN 2010 - Malaysia

noreply@blogger.com (Slambino) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:40:00 +0000

From Commonwealth Secretariat

An international youth summit designed to build bridges between people of different cultures, organised by the United Nations, Commonwealth Secretariat and Government of Malaysia, was unveiled this week.

The 2010 Global Model United Nations Conference will see university students from around the world gather in Kuala Lumpur between 28 and 30 July to take part in a mock simulation of the UN’s General Assembly.

Visit the UN's Global Model UN Conference website for more information.

Full Conference Results - Harvard MUN 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Slambino) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:53:00 +0000

Harvard Model UN Conference
Boston, MA | January 28 - 31, 2010

Overall Conference Awards

Best International Delegation:
The Cathedral and John Connon School
Best Small Delegation:
The University of Chicago Laboratory School
Outstanding Large Delegation:
JP Stevens High School
Best Large Delegation:
The Dalton School

Click here for full conference awards list

You can also find the full awards list at www.harvardmun.org

Full Conference Results - YMUN 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Slambino) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:25:00 +0000

Full Conference Results
Yale Model UN Conferences 2010
New Haven, CT

Overall Conference Awards

Outstanding Large Delegation: Bergen County Academies
Outstanding Small Delegation: Collegiate School

Best Small Delegation: Fort Lee High School
Best Large Delegation: The Hotchkiss School

Click Here for Full Committee Awards List

Liveblogging HMUN

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Villanueva) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 22:52:00 +0000

It's been an eventful day at the Harvard MUN Conference! I've been tweeting updates throughout the day, but I finally have a chance to sit down and write an actual post. I'm going to focus on what happened, and in future posts I'll put up entire interviews and pictures, as well as provide more of an analysis.

My morning started with meeting HMUN's Secretary-General, Daniel Robinson, and getting his thoughts on how the conference was going. He actually had a lot of questions for Aldrin and me about how Yale's conferences are organized. We compared notes and then agreed to do a more formal interview in the afternoon.

Aldrin and I then went into a small room to study the conference guide and figure out our plan of attack for the day, what to check out, whom to interview, etc. Then a delegate walked into the room and kindly interrupted us, asking very politely if he could have the room so he could pray (it was around noon at this time). We of course acquiesced to his request, and he was also willing to answer a few questions before we left. He was representing an Eastern bloc country in the Historical General Assembly, which was discussing the 1960 Congo crisis. I asked whether winning an award mattered to him, and he said it was the last thing on his mind; he does MUN for the experience, and because it's fun.

We then ran into some students gathered around a piano, taking turns playing. One was from Nepal and was having a little too much fun static-shocking other delegates. Another student started singing pop songs and he had a good voice, which made nearby delegates stop to check him out.

Aldrin and I then met a pair of students from WEMUN, an organization that sends Chinese students to conferences in America and also gets American students to help run conferences in China. They came to HMUN to practice their English, and also to check out other American universities.

We then sat down at a random table. Delegates kept coming up to Aldrin and me asking when we would start selling T-shirts and roses; they all thought we were part of HMUN's merchandise-selling operation! It was lunch time, so we told them to come back when committee session started back up again.

Aldrin had to leave to take care of some errands, and so I became a one-man wolf pack. I took a seat in the lobby and overheard a few delegates talking about their committee with their advisor. They were complaining about other delegates being off-policy, which was frustrating because they had prepared their own roles expecting certain delegates to take opposing positions.

I also happened to be sitting near a couple of advisors that allowed me to interview them. They were from a school that was just starting up its MUN club, and HMUN was their second conference in two years. We talked about the challenges of starting a new MUN club, particularly how to prepare students for a conference when they don't know yet what to expect.

Lunch was ending around this time, so I checked out a few committees and listened to some speeches. One delegate gave a speech as a representative of Greenpeace and then mentioned that she was leaving to go speak in other committees. I asked her a few questions out in the hall and found out that students can apply to represent NGOs instead of countries. They can't vote, but they visit different committees to lobby delegates to pass resolutions that promote the NGO's agenda. This student was excited to represent Greenpeace because she also works on environmental issues in New Jersey.

I then got a chance to interview HMUN's Secretary-General and Director-General, Jeff Phaneuf, together. We talked about what it takes to put on a conference like HMUN. One challenge they discussed was moving the conference dates from early December to late January, on the same weekend as the Ivy League MUN Conference and McGill MUN Conference. The switch was due to Harvard changing its academic calendar so that final exams took place before Winter Break instead of after it, which would have conflicted with conference preparation efforts. As a result of moving the dates, final preparations for HMUN had to be done during Winter Break and over the phone.

We also touched about the meaning of MUN and how they would take the skills they've learned as delegates and conference organizers into the real world after graduating from Harvard. "Someday a history will be written on MUN, recognizing the values this activity has instilled in young leaders," Jeff said. "My experience as a delegate has taught me more than any class."

After finishing up our interview, Dan showed me to their crisis room. The crisis staff was using a green screen to shoot their videos, and they debated the prospect of Quebec's secession with a committee over Skype.

Finally, I checked out the World Bank, which was discussing how to help developing countries in the wake of the financial crisis. I immediately took an interest, given my own background working in finance, and I introduced myself to the chairs, who invited me to give a guest speech. I assumed a role as JPMorgan's Global Head of Research and spoke on the history of the financial crisis--subprime mortgages, asset-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations, ratings agencies, Bear Stearns, Lehman, AIG, TARP, etc. I tried to explain how the risks of the housing market had been spread throughout the financial system, and the crisis was a result of misunderstanding and mismanaging this risk.

That's all for now. Use the comment field to let me know what part of the above you want to hear about first. And keep following @BestDelegate on Twitter as Aldrin and I tweet closing ceremonies tomorrow!

Spring Conference Season in Full Swing

noreply@blogger.com (Slambino) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:09:00 +0000

This weekend is packed with Model UN conferences!

Harvard Model United Nations
Hosted by Harvard University
Ryan will be going up this weekend to live blog the conference events!

The Ivy League Model United Nations Conference (ILMUNC)
Hosted by University of Pennsylvania

American University Model UN Conference (AUMUN)Hosted by American University

McMUN
Hosted by McGill University

Follow us at @bestdelegate for MUN Conference Updates!

Mission Viejo HS Model UN Conference and Haiti Relief

noreply@blogger.com (Slambino) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:59:00 +0000

MVHSMUN, Ryan's former high school conference, hosted their annual conference on January 16-17, 2010.

"In the wake of the Haiti disaster, a Model United Nations Conference in Mission Viejo this month was converted from theory to reality when 800 delegates joined to raise funds for the American Red Cross relief effort.

Mission High School hosted the largest high school MUN conference on the West Coast, with approximately 1000 students attending. The conference had delegates discussing the policies of more than 140 nations on topics ranging from the AIDS epidemic to mediating peace in the Middle East."

Link to original article from Mission Viejo Dispatch

Congrats to Missions' conference organizers on a successful conference!

Bestdelegate.com live blog complete - YMUN XXXVI

noreply@blogger.com (Slambino) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:36:00 +0000

Ryan and I have finished our live coverage of YMUN XXXVI! It's been a great experience and we're working on our total conference review. (Ok, we're really enjoying lunch at Yorkside and watching the Jets/Colts game.)

Sincerest thanks to the YMUN Secretariat and staff, to the delegates and faculty advisors! An excellent conference experience!

And much congratulatios to Fort Lee High School and The Hotchkiss School on winning Best Delegation. We will be posting all award winners here on the website.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

YMUN Press Corps

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Villanueva) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:17:00 +0000

Sarah and I are totally impressed by the YMUN Press Corps, which is a joint crisis committee between BBC and Al-Jazeera. They're taking MUN into Web 2.0 with their use of Blogger and Twitter.

Here's a juicy Tweet from @bbcpresscorps "quoting" an Al-Qaeda press release about capturing Canadian troops in Afghanistan:

"'We will behead one of the Canadian infidels we have in our custody every day.' Must foreign troops withdraw?"

Check out their blogs, bbcpresscorps2010.blogspot.com and aljazeera2010.blogspot.com, and follow them on Twitter @bbcpresscorps and @ymunaljazeera

On our way to YMUN

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Villanueva) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:37:00 +0000

Sarah and I are in New Haven about to liveblog the Yale MUN Conference.

Our plan right now is to interview a cross-section of the conference, e.g. delegates, advisors, chairs, and maybe even the Secretary-General, and post their thoughts online. Combined with Sarah's and my observations, we hope this will capture the spirit of YMUN.

Check back here throughout the day for updates, and follow us on Twitter @BestDelegate #YMUN!

Bestdelegate.com team heading to YMUN

noreply@blogger.com (Slambino) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:44:00 +0000

Hi everyone,

Bestdelegate.com will be heading to New Haven, CT this weekend for the Yale Model UN Conference (YMUN XXXVI). Ryan and I will be live blogging the conference, similar to how we helped out at the UNA-USA MUN X conference.

Follow us at twitter.com/bestdelegate #bestdelegate

If you're attending the conference, we definitely want to hear from you! Leave a comment here or find us while we roam from committee to committee.

See you then!

How To Video: Parliamentary Procedure by Yale Model UN Secretariat

noreply@blogger.com (Slambino) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 04:41:00 +0000

Check out this video made by the Yale Model UN Secretariat. Yale will be hosting their XXXVI this weekend in New Haven. If you're on twitter, we'd love to see your live reactions at #bestdelegate. Also, you can follow us at @bestdelegate!

BestDelegate.Com Coming Back

noreply@blogger.com (Slambino) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:46:00 +0000

Hello everyone! BestDelegate.com has been on hiatus for the past summer, but we're coming back! In the meantime, here's some brief updates:

Follow us on Twitter! @bestdelegate #bestdelegate

Watch for tips on how to be better delegate and receive updates on latest posts! If you're at a MUN conference, tweet to us and maybe we'll respond with well wishes to your committee. (Opening speech in 140 characters??)

Have a question? We want to answer it!

This past summer, we've receive lots of questions on MUN preparation and research. Here at BestDelegate.com, we want you to write us with your questions and in the next few weeks, we'll respond here. If you're lucky, we might even do a video response!

Upcoming Conferences

UPMUNC XLIII

This weekend, University of Pennsylvania will be hosting its 43rd session of the University of Pennsylvania's Model United Nations Conference (UPMUNC). Let us know if you're attending, and if so, what committee and country/position you're representing. I'm sure Ryan will be interested to hear from delegate participating in the Iranian Council of Ministers

Iberian Model United Nations

Also this weekend, the Iberian Model UN Conference will be hosted by the Carlucci American International School of Lisbon. IMUN has served high school students for 15 strong years. We'd definitely love to hear from any delegates attending the conference.

http://www.caislisbon.org/

Northwest Model United Nations Conference
NWMUN, hosted by a dedicated group of college students from the Pacific Northwest, will also have its ninth annual conference. I remember when NWMUN started as small training conference, and I'm glad to see it grow into a strong tradition. Learn more about NWMUN at http://www.nwmun.org.

Upcoming Posts

UNA-USA MUN 2010 had its Senior Secretariat applications due today. Within the next few days, we'll be coming up with a few helpful tips for anyone applying to conference staff for any conference.

Best wishes everyone!

Sarah

Unmoderated Comment Caucus - Model UN After College

noreply@blogger.com (Slambino) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:00:00 +0000

BestDelegate.com wants to hear from you!

For those of you who have graduated from college, are you still involved with Model UN? If so, in what capacity?
For those of you still in school - high school, college, etc - do you see yourself being involved with MUN in the future?

Here at BestDelegate.com, we all recently graduated from college and have been in the workforce for over a year. Once in awhile, we'll volunteer to staff Model UN conferences, post some tips on working a committee, or even plan Model UN websites for a living.

Do Model UNers ever really leave Model UN or do they just take an extended break?

Model UN Calendars - who has them?

noreply@blogger.com (Slambino) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Long, long, ago, when the BestDelegate.com writers were still competing in high school, UNA-USA's Education Department used to collect MUN conference information and created an annual publication detailing all conference information. In its heyday, the publication contained all the necessary contact information for 200+ MUN conferences. It was an invaluable resource for faculty advisors and MUN teams planning their travels.

Today, a simple google search on MUN calendar reveals a handful of websites that are trying to consolidate the Model UN database. Surprisingly, the best databases out there don't even show up as a top hit.

UNA-USA's Model UN Calendar - www.unausa.org/muncalendar
Earlier this year, UNA-USA launched its newly designed website, complete with new features being slowly rolled out. As a part of this transition, the Education Department and Web Managers designed a brand new calendar database. Prior to transition, the old MUN calendar had not been updated in years (it still had Commission on Human Rights as a committee option, eek!). Today, the calendar has been recently launched, but still lacks the same amount of entries as years past. Perhaps by the end of the year, the calendar will once again have 200+ conferences.

Global Model UN's Database - www.un.org/gmun
The UN's Department of Public Information is hosting its first annual Global Model UN Conference in Geneva, Switzerland this year. Last year, the UN Education-Outreach department took on the rather ambitious goal of gathering the contact information for ALL Model UN conferences around the world. Looking at the database, you'll find local high school conferences listed with the large international conferences. Unfortunately, the GMUN website does not provide contact information for any of the conferences. Perhaps the contact information will be released at GMUN 2009?

MUNmate.com
I actually found this while doing MUN research. This is the only Model UN website devoted to a database of conferences. Unfortunately, there's far too few conferences.

WorldMUN 2009
WorldMUN's website doesn't actually link to any conferences, but a post from of the organizers claims that they were going to post the MUN database online.

In the next couple of weeks we will gather the data of different MUN's around the world. This way we will be able to inform all our visitors about the possibilities of participating in other MUN's. Why? Because students might want to practice in other MUN's to prepare for WorldMUN or just like to participate in a MUN. WorldMUN is still a couple of months away (it takes place in March 2009).

If you are organizing a MUN, you can let us know by sending an email to board@worldmun2009.org

Please indicate when and where your MUN takes place, whether you have a website for your MUN and how many students you expect. We will then contact you.

At the end we will be able to create a MUN calendar, and we will put it on our website.

Where do you go for Model UN conference information? Do databases like these even help or is it easier to just do an online search for conferences?

How to Combine Resolutions in Thirty Minutes or Less

noreply@blogger.com (Slambino) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:06:00 +0000

This post was actually written by Ryan Villanueva for the UNA-USA MUN Chronicle.

How to Combine Resolutions in Thirty Minutes or Less

It’s coming down to the wire. The unmoderated caucus is complete chaos as delegates scramble to combine their resolutions. The chair is banging the gavel frantically, demanding drafts within the hour so that the committee has time to vote before closing ceremonies. You’re standing between two caucus blocs with two competing resolutions in hand, surrounded by delegates screaming suggestions at you on what operative clauses to cut and what to add, all of them telling you what to do. What do you do?

This is a common situation at many MUN conferences and they almost always end badly. But here’s a couple tips to help you through the best of a bad situation.

1. First, realize that the resolution will not be ideal. If you’re under pressure to finish a resolution, you won’t have time to iron out all the details. You have to work with what you have and just get something finished. You also need to manage other delegates’ expectations accordingly. The final document might not make everyone happy, but they can be satisfied with the result by realizing that it is a compromise between everyone’s ideas.

2. Take 5 minutes to figure out a structure to the new resolution. Your topic can be broken down into various issues and a given operative clause most likely addresses one issue. When combining resolutions, you can group together the operative clauses that address the same issue. This makes it easier to see what clauses are similar and can be combined, or what clauses have irreconcilable differences and can be deleted. (Go toBestDelegate.com and read my various posts on “Framing”) At the same time, assign one person the task of separately combining perambulatory clauses.

3. Now that you have a new resolution structure, take 10 minutes to go through each operative clause in the two (or more) resolutions and assign them to various sections of the new resolution. Now you have a complete draft that everyone can discuss.

4. With the new draft in hand and everyone around you, take 15 minutes to read through the clauses in front of everyone. Quickly read through the shorter and least controversial clauses and focus more time on the bigger and more controversial ones. And by focus more time, I mean whittling down troublesome clauses into language that everyone can agree on. This is no longer the time to come up with new ideas; you just need to get it done. This will undoubtedly weaken certain ideas, but that is the nature of compromise and the ever present dilemma of the United Nations.

5. Take 5 more minutes to make minor changes, correct grammar, and make sure people understand the gist of the new draft. Then submit your resolution to the chair!

I hope that these tips helps, but the biggest determinant of success behind combining resolutions is whether the two resolutions are truly similar and if the blocs can work together. If there are too many controversial ideas and irreconcilable differences, then the two resolutions should not be combined in the first place.

BestDelegate.com and UNA-USA MUN X - web2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Slambino) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:51:00 +0000

Hello Model UNers! Everyone here at BestDelegate.com have been quite busy for the past few weeks. Ryan, Kevin, and I were all together last May at the tenth annual UNA-USA MUN conference held at the UN Headquarters.

I wanted to direct you all to the UNA-USA MUN Conference Chronicle (www.unausa.org/unausamun/chronicle), a live blog of the conference written by high school students and managed by college students. In the past, the Conference Chronicle has been a printed edition, but this year, UNA-USA decided to become web 2.0. Check out the interview posts on Ryan and myself.

The Conference Chronicle wasn't the only Internet resources UNA-USA was using. Eduardo Molina, the Under Secretary-General for Conference Services, linked twitter, google documents, and draft resolution production. Every time a complete draft resolution was uploaded to google documents, a tweet would go out indicating that the draft resolution was typed and ready to be photocopied. Chairs who were following the conference services tweet had a good idea about when resolutions would be delivered to the committee room.

Using technology and social media in Model UN conferences isn't a brand new thing. The majority of Model UN Conferences have a facebook group or fan page or a google e-mail account. BestDelegate.com is curious to know what other technology tools Model UNers have been using at conferences. Were they successful? Were they a distraction? What are your thoughts on the topic.

Kevin with Ravi, UNA-USA-MUN 2008 Chief of Staff
Photo by Milan Stanic, photo from UNA-USA's Flickr

(Right) Eduardo Molina, USG of Conference Services
Photo by Milan Stanic, photo from UNA-USA's Flickr

Be a Best Listener to be Best Delegate

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Felix Chan) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 01:11:00 +0000

Listening during Model UN speeches or resolutions is easy. A delegate listens to the speaker, finds a point that he/she agrees or disagrees on, and essentially makes a comment or asks a question based off the agreement or disagreement.

Listening during Model UN unmoderated/informal caucus is hard. This is partly because delegates have to deal with rapid, on-going dialogue that requires an interactive response. But it is also partly because delegates were probably never taught how to listen during an unmoderated/informal caucus (or think it's appropriate to not listen at all!). The Best Delegate knows that effective listening builds trust and respect, and also knows that delegates with different listening approaches need to be influenced differently.

So, 'listen' up as we explain how to handle listening approaches for several types of delegates:

Gunner: these are the delegates who are constantly rushing around the room during caucus and think they have more important tasks to do than listen to you.
> Approach: Catch their attention and get to the point quickly. For example, "Gambia, I need your undivided attention for just a moment. Operative 6 has some weaknesses and Ghana and I would like to edit it before we submit the draft resolution to the dais."

Hardballer: these are delegates who are not truly listening to you and once they have the gist of the conversation, will interrupt to take it over with their own comments.
> Approach: Stop and let them talk. When they are done, you should say "As I was saying before..." to imply to them their interruption. If you are a more assertive delegate, step into the middle of the bloc, turn to a few delegates that the hardballer isn't directly facing and then re-start the conversation. You will have essentially cut the hardballer's audience in half.

Over-thinker: these are delegates who like to over-analyze, place doubt on an idea, have everything perfect, or are too detail-oriented. They may hold your bloc back from making quick decisions when the committee is going down the wire.
> Approach: Give them a 'yes or no' decision with a sense of urgency or be clear that analysis or advice is inappropriate at the moment. For example, "Laos, we only have 2 more minutes in this caucus, I need you to say yes or no to adding this as a friendly amendment to our resolution."

Passive Follower: these are delegates who may not be fully listening (e.g. passersby or bored delegates) or may not fully understand what you are saying (e.g. newer delegates), resulting in your inability to fully influence them or gain support.
> Approach: Ask them a specific question on an idea you just said to check for their understanding or attentiveness. For example, "Paraguay, what do you think about the vaccination program I just suggested?" or more assertively "Slovenia, I'd like your input on the funding idea I just proposed."

Attentive Delegate: these are delegates who are listening and you can tell by the thought they put in into your ideas.
> Approach: Be sure to acknowledge their attentiveness. This reinforces them to continue listening to you. For example, at the end of the unmoderated/informal caucus session, you could say, "Italy, I appreciate you taking the time to listen to my ideas."

The Rogue Delegate: though less common, these are delegates who have policies that disagree with just about anybody (e.g. North Korea or Iran in some cases), may just be playing devil's advocate, or may just be a complete disrupter to the committee.
> Approach: You can acknowledge historical disgareement and start dialogue with them on what can be reasonably accomplished going forward. If they continue to be disruptive, then ignoring their antics usually works.

How to Win Best Delegate: Framing Your Topic

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Felix Chan) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 22:38:00 +0000

Earlier this week, I was coaching for a Bay Area high school in preparation for the UC Davis Model United Nations Conference, and the students asked a good question: how do we go about researching our topic when the background guide or topic synopsis has not been posted yet? If you want to be the Best Delegate, you cannot wait for the chair to post the guide (or rely on background guides that may not be written with a clear framework of issues to address). The procrastination-busting technique that I recommend you take the initiative to use is Framing Your Topic. Here’s how the three-part process works:

First, you frame your topic. Brainstorm six to ten different sub-issues that you might encounter regarding this topic. If you have trouble brainstorming, think of sub-issues categorically: political, economic, social, financial, humanitarian, environmental, security, etc.

Next, list adjacent to each sub-issue in your framework the past actions that have been taken to resolve that sub-issue as well as possible solutions that your country has proposed or would like to propose.

Finally, you select the three most salient sub-issues to your country. These will become the three key points you will use when you Frame Your Speech and will be central to your position paper and draft resolution. You will want to conduct more research into them so you can become the subject matter expert on them when they are debated at the conference. Of course, you will also want to be familiar with the other points that you have framed because you can include them in your resolutions, and some of these will be the key points for other delegates and you will want to be knowledgeable enough to collaborate with them on these sub-issues.

Here are two examples of UC Davis topics that the students I was working with brainstormed on the spot:

Topic: Nuclear Proliferation
1. Technology transfer (by governments and individuals)
2. Government Policies toward nuclear weapons
3. Security (of stockpiles, facilities, etc.)
4. Internal strife (e.g. Pakistan)
5. Disarmament of stockpiles
6. Economic arguments behind proliferation
7. Security/alliance factors behind proliferation
8. Terrorism

Topic: Preservation of Indigenous Languages
1. Suppression by governments
2. Language and cultural dominance
3. Official language policy
4. Grassroots/local efforts in preservation
5. Education & research
6. Incentives for indigenous language abilities

These will need to be filled in with past actions and proposed solutions, but that requires research of your topic and an understanding of your country policy. A filled-in sub-issue will look like this:

Sub-Issue --> Past Actions --> Proposed Solution

Note that the above frameworks are comprehensive but not complete. You could probably brainstorm a few more sub-issues for each. More important, when the background guide or topic synopsis gets posted, make sure you read to understand what sub-issues your Chair wants the committee to address and adjust your framework accordingly.

If you have trouble with framing, I would suggest getting your entire class or club do it for the topic. I found that brainstorming as a group produced much more comprehensive lists of sub-issues than individually trying to dissect your topic.

----

P.S. Some members of the Best Delegate team will be volunteering at the UNA-USA MUN Conference in May, and we look forward to meeting any of our readers who will be participating at the conference!

Sales Strategies for Model UN: Cushioning Statements

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Felix Chan) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 03:37:00 +0000

Salespeople use Cushioning Statements when they want to allow the customer to feel heard, enable the customer to gain confidence in the salesperson, and when the salesperson wants the customer to open up his/her thoughts. In Model UN, it is a strategy that the Best Delegate may use when he or she too wants other delegates to feel heard and enable other delegates to gain confidence and trust in him/her.

Here are some examples:

* Good question!
* I'm glad you asked...
* Another delegate asked me that earlier.
* Interesting point.
* I haven't heard that argument made yet.
* I understand, but...
* I understand, and...
* That's a legitimate concern.
* I can see why your country would agree/disagree with this policy/idea/operative clause/etc.

Think for a moment that you're a delegate with a real question or concern. Wouldn't you feel at least a little more respected or heard if another delegate replied with one of those Cushioning Statements before launching into his/her response? I sure would.

There are many situations in Model UN when you can insert a Cushioning Statement to make other delegates feel like they can trust you or that you care about their questions and opinions: when you yield your speech time to questions, when you are defending your policies or solutions in an unmoderated or informal caucus, and when you are answering questions during formal caucus. You can even insert Cushioning Statements into your speech, although Cushioning Statements are usually most effective when directed at the individual delegate that is questioning or interacting with you.

Try some of these next time, and post in the Comments section some of the Cushioning Statements that you use!

--

By the way, if you missed it, we previously went over another sales strategy called the 'stripping line' that the Best Delegate can use to diffuse negativity from aggressive delegates. Look for more sales strategies to come!

Model UN Staffing Applications

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Villanueva) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 04:33:00 +0000

This week, we have a guest post! Sarah Lambino works for the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA). Through the Global Classrooms program, Sarah introduces Model United Nations to public high schools and middle schools in major cities around the United States. She helps teachers use Model UN to teach their students about international issues by providing educational materials and organizing MUN conferences.

Her post is about applying for conference staff. Many schools use an application; some schools don't; but most national-level conferences such as UNA-USA MUN have an especially competitive application process. If you've never staffed a conference before, I'd encourage you to think about it; you can learn a lot by seeing MUN from the other side of the committee room. Sarah's post will give you plenty of insight into gaining that perspective.

Sarah speaking at the United Nations

Some people win "Best Delegate." Me? I hire them.

As a conference organizer at UNA-USA, it's my job to hire 200+ college and high school students for the 13 conferences we hold around the country. In this post, I'd like to share some of the things I've learned about what separates a good conference from a bad conference: the people who run them.

Think for a moment about some of the conferences you've attended and what made them memorable. More often than not, it had something to do with someone on the conference staff. It might just be a really cool Chair who was laidback but knew how to keep decorum. Perhaps it was the Secretary-General who handled a problem you had with a committee room. Or maybe it was that Rapporteur who misspelled Thailand as "Tieland."

A conference succeeds or fails on the quality of its staff. So how do you select the best staff? Many conferences use an application.

Model UN applications contain similar questions. Below are the three main areas conference organizers are looking at in an applicant.

Model UN Experience – Conferences attended and staffed, committees you've participated in, awards won. If you're starting out, definitely keep track of the different committees you've participated in as a delegate. It will save you a good 15 minutes when you're trying to remember what committee you were on when you got the best position paper award in your junior--no, wait, senior--year of high school. I think it was Berkeley Model UN 2003, ECOFIN, Syrian Arab Republic...

Communication Skills – Basic writing and public speaking skills. As a Model UNer--and BestDelegate.com reader--you should know that strong communication is key to being successful in committee as a delegate. But as a potential staffer, your focus changes from "How do I win over X delegate?" to "How do I manage all the delegates?" Some conferences also require you to write background guides if you are selected to be on staff. And if you're looking to be a chair, speaking skills will be a major factor.

Interest in Model UN and the Conference – What do you know about the conference and why do you want to be a part of it? Use your niche conference research skills and show off how you intend to contribute. These questions usually come in many forms. "What did you like about this conference and what would you change?" also means "Do you know what we're about?" Another similar question: "We know what are strengths and weaknesses are. What do you think they are?" Questions that ask you to describe a particular situation are tests to see if you can follow procedure and have the common sense to handle difficult circumstances.

The information I just described is pretty standard for any hiring process, but don't forget that this hiring process is also a way for you to get to know the conference, too. Does the hiring process seem too lengthy? Are there too many redundancies in the forms and questions? Or perhaps the event organizers are not answering your questions? You can begin to manage your expectations of conference staffing through the application process.

Remember: like being a best delegate, there is no definitive guide for being the best conference staffing applicant. Every conference, every conference organizer, every organization differs in their goals and values for what makes a successful Model UN staffer.

"Competing" in Model UN

noreply@blogger.com (Ryan Villanueva) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:50:00 +0000

In the spirit of Kevin's post on the return of the MUN season, I'd like to share excerpts from an e-mail exchange between me and someone wanting to become more "competitive" at Model UN.

My Response

I believe that becoming "competitive" at Model UN means developing proficiency in various skills that enable you to demonstrate leadership throughout an MUN conference. By skills, I mean broad skills, such as research and public speaking, but also strategic skills, such as deciding what country you want to represent at a conference and what ideas you should present to the committee, as well as tactical skills, such as choosing with which delegates to form an alliance. And by leadership, I mean a trait that other delegates and the chair apply to you because you are able to lead the committee to find some sort of solution to the problem it faces; this is a trait that must be earned. This focus on skills and leadership is the bedrock of the BestDelegate.com philosophy.

So if skill proficiency leads to leadership, which leads to success, then how do you develop such skills? The only real way, of course, is experience: going to as many MUN conferences as possible, practicing with your club, etc. You can also deliberately practice individual skills, i.e. researching papers transfers to researching for a conference, being an active participant in a small seminar is much like speaking in a small committee, etc. Having someone coach you is important, too; solicit feedback on how you are doing from older MUNers in your club whom you trust. And it helps to have some theory, i.e. BestDelegate.com =P

From the sound of your e-mail, I hope you don't feel intimidated by the "competitive" aspect of MUN. By this, I mean awards, and how aggressive other people might be in trying to win them; such things are meant to be incentives to take this seriously, but they are not to be the point of doing MUN. This activity is one huge "head fake" (see Randy Pausch, "The Last Lecture") to develop the skills mentioned above, which are transferable to other endeavors in life, to meet intelligent and interesting people, which sounds like you have, and to learn something about international relations and, maybe, human behavior and social interaction. It sounds like you already have a good approach to MUN; I would just encourage you to jump in, and do as much of this stuff as you can, and don't worry so much about being "competitive." Learn from others; be an active and thoughtful participant; and most importantly, have fun!

The Counter-Argument

I do agree that the most important aspect of participating in a MUN conference is the personal growth that comes from doing so; however, the awards seem to allow greater involvement in the college circuit - those who do well are frequently asked to return. For this reason, it seems harder to "try my hand" at Model UN that at other college activities, because reputation is important and I understand that the club seeks those who can uphold its reputation.

Developing Leadership vs. Winning Awards: An Actual Dilemma?

I think that my response captures part of our "MUN philosophy" here at BestDelegate.com: focus less on awards and approach MUN as a way to develop your leadership skills. But the counter-argument illustrates a central dilemma within the Model UN community: awards may not be the point of doing MUN, but winning them enables greater participation, which hopefully leads to the development of leadership skills.

This may be a short e-mail exchange, but it is an interesting snapshot of how different people view MUN. I'd love to know what other people think.

Conference results: Berkeley wins Best Delegation at UCLA College Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Felix Chan) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:19:00 +0000

The UC Berkeley team took Best Delegation at the Los Angeles Model United Nations Conference hosted by Model United Nations at UCLA this past weekend. Stanford took Outstanding Delegation. Seems like a nice college rivalry is carrying over to Model UN. We'll get recaps and insights from UCLA staff and from delegates who attended this conference.

Several other high school and college conferences took place this weekend. There also some major conferences being held later this month, including the Yale Model UN Conference at the high school level and McMUN hosted by McGill at the college level. We hope to hear from staffers and participants at the upcoming conferences as well.

If you'd like to write a recap, conference review, or a particularly insightful experience, send us an email!

For examples, see:
> Delegate review/experience of AIMUN
> Delegate review of Harvard National (part 1)
> Delegate review of Harvard National (part 2)
> Staff experience at Yale MUN

Conference Season is Back!

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Felix Chan) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 06:14:00 +0000

Conference season is back!! I'm really excited about that because the Los Angeles Model United Nations Conference (LAMUNC) hosted by Model United Nations at UCLA kicks it off this weekend. The conference is already expected to be bigger than last year's, and knowing the crisis team and technology that they have this year, I'm sure it'll be better than ever.

The great thing about this conference is that I took part in building it up from scratch, and over the past few years, I've also seen participating travel teams grow and market themselves effectively. We've already been emailed some questions on conference development as club officers start planning for the spring, and there are plenty of conferences ahead in the next few months to strengthen and market your travel team, so look forward to us sharing some excellent tips in the near future on how to grow your conference and travel team.

Good luck to all the delegates participating at the conference!

Sales Strategies for Model UN: Stripping Line Technique

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Felix Chan) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 03:15:00 +0000

When you are presenting a draft resolution during formal caucus, you need to have the mindset of a salesperson. Your product is your draft resolution, and your potential customers are all the other delegates who have yet to be convinced to vote for your resolution. Therefore, it may be valuable to learn the strategies that salespeople use in order to successfully pitch their product.

I will share several sales techniques with you on this blog that you can apply to Model UN, starting off with the "stripping line." In the sales profession, a salesperson uses the stripping line technique when he allows an angry repeat customer to vent while pausing from his sales pitch, and then re-directs the conversation when the customer has ran out of steam. This prevents the salesperson from having to be on the defensive at the customer's will or from aggravating the customer to be even more negative.

In Model UN, you may ocassionally come across an aggressive delegate from a rival bloc who is passionately opposed to your draft resolution. When you yield to questions during formal caucus, this delegate will often ask an animated, negatively rhetorical, and extremely long-winded question in order to point out flaws in your draft resolution rather than provide you with a clear, answerable question. The question is meant to put you on the defensive if not stump you and make you look bad. This is where you can use the stripping line technique.

It's very simple: don't try to answer the delegate's question... at least not yet. The animated and long-winded question is just the delegate venting out negativity, just like how the angry customer vented some steam to the salesperson. Instead, ask the delegate to please repeat (or clarify) the question.

Oftentimes, the delegate will be caught in surprise that he didn't stump you with his supposedly rhetorical question. The delegate probably won't be able to ask the question in the same passionate and long-winded fashion the second time around, and any delegate who tries will probably look like he's trying too hard. Furthermore, the question will probably be more concise the second time around since the delegate thinks he wasn't able to get his rhetoric across the first time. To complete the sales analogy, this is when you have re-directed the delegate from negative rhetoric to asking a clearer question that you can provide an answer to.

Granted, such animated, negatively rhetorical, and long-winded questions do not come up at most formal caucuses. Most longer questions are due to delegates not having mastered being concise, so you don't need to apply this technique and can just answer the question then. But in case you do come across a passionately negative delegate whose intent is clearly to challenge you, you now know that all it takes to diffuse some negativity and force the questioner to be more concise is to simply ask the delegate to "please repeat the question."